Congratulations to our 2024 On-Location Top Research Presentations. Visit the On-Location program for more information.
Saturday, October 5 | 9:00 am
Jeffrey Wilkinson, Florida A&M University and August E. Grant, Focus 25 Research and Consulting; Radio 2040
Radio has been the most familiar and far-reaching electronic medium of mass communication in the world. Even as Radio continues to reach global audiences with entertainment, news, and information, there are questions about its viability in a world dominated by online and social media. Weekly US listening has declined from 96% in 2001 to 82% in 2022. Reports of radio’s demise have persisted for decades but the domination of Internet and mobile technologies demand the question of its viability be reconsidered once again. This paper uses the year 2040 to frame the discussion of radio, its programming, and its audience. Before prognosticating radio’s future, it must first be established what radio is and what key factors impact the medium. Brief analyses of each key factor in the Radio ecosystem suggests four possible scenarios on the state of radio in 2040.
Norman E. Youngblood, Auburn University, Susan A. Youngblood, Auburn University and Angie Chung, Auburn University; Through the Lens: Analysis of YouTube Comments on The Guardian’s “The Party: A Virtual Experience of Autism – 360 Film”
In 2017, The Guardian released The Party, an immersive YouTube video simulating, a teenager with Autism Spectrum Disorder’s (ASD) experience at a surprise birthday party (Fernando et al., 2017). By March 2024, over 600 users had commented on the video. The video provides viewers the opportunity to see through the eyes of someone with ASD and immersive video has previously been found helpful in developing empathy and understanding in a variety of areas (Barreda-Ángeles et al., 2021; Buchman & Henderson, 2019). This study used a thematic analysis to help understand how viewers reacted to and processed the video by evaluating viewer comments, looking for key themes and comment sentiment. We found many users identified as autistic, and viewers largely either related to the video or felt empathy or understanding after watching. Some related to the video in a diagnostic way.
Norman E. Youngblood, Auburn University, Susan Youngblood, Auburn University and Kennedi Harvey, Auburn University; Alabama Local Emergency Management Agency Facebook Page Accessibility
Social media is an important source for the public to find disaster information, particularly in the United States. Emergency management agencies are among the government organizations using social media to keep people informed before, during, and after a disaster. People with disabilities are often at greater risk in disasters than the general public and it is imperative emergency information be accessible. The current study examines the accessibility of Alabama local emergency management agency (LEMA) Facebook page content, with a focus on still and moving images. We found LEMA typically rely on auto-generated image alternative text—much of which is not usable—and rarely caption videos, even when auto-captioning is available. Furthermore, none of the videos we examined had audio described versions.
Sunday, October 6 | 9:00 am
Chris DeFelice, University of Florida; Blockbuster Brand Equity in the Streaming Era: The Impact of Movie Brand Associations and Theatrical Exclusivity on Post-Pandemic Moviegoing Decisions
Cinemas have historically been the primary venue for blockbuster film releases, but the pandemic-era movie theater closures forced many moviegoers to acclimate to streaming these movies at home. In an effort to provide actionable insights for industry practitioners who are struggling to recover the box office to its pre-pandemic glory, this study establishes medium association (i.e., “streaming brand” or “theatrical brand”) of a blockbuster franchise as an important brand association to predict future theatrical moviegoing within consumer-based brand equity literature. The results show that medium association is an important predictor of theatrical moviegoing intention, with theatrical exclusivity frame (i.e., the time between theatrical release and home media release) serving as a potential tactic to build theatrical brand association.
Chris DeFelice, University of Florida and Amy Jo Coffey, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Silent Observers or Engaged Citizens: News Audience Extroversion, Political Engagement, and Source Trust on Twitter
There is limited research on how introversion/extroversion relates to on-and-offline political engagement and trust in Twitter as a primary news source. This study seeks to understand the relationships between personality type and online political engagement and news consumption on Twitter. Results reveal that (a) extroversion level predicts specific political engagement behaviors, (b) online political behaviors are often a reflection of in-person behaviors (i.e., participating in a boycott in-person and promoting a boycott online).
David Shabazz, Kentucky State University; Motivations for Viewing the Super Bowl on Television in a Multiplatform Environment
The Super Bowl has been among the highest rated single television programs for the last three decades. Despite television’s evolution into a multiplatform environment, the Super Bowl remains in the top five most viewed programs. As television viewing has become more individualized due to smartphones and tablets, this study seeks to understand if viewers are seeking the same gratifications such as enjoyment and social interaction. Result show that enjoyment and social interaction remain primary motives. However, new motives such as ancillary entertainment, viewing on interactive devices and respect for American values have emerged as new sources of viewer gratification for watching the Super Bowl.
Top Research Session: Research-in-Progress Papers: Sunday, October 6 | 10:15 am
Phillip Coxwell, Auburn University and Norman E. Youngblood, Auburn University; Captioning of Non-Speech Information in Pbskids.Org Children’s Programming
Closed captions availability in children’s programming has increased in recent years. However, quality, consistency, and other aspects of closed captions is still lacking, especially regarding non-speech information (NSI). The Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) provides a Captioning Key to assist with creating NSI captions, yet there is little research looking at how well current children’s programming follows these guidelines. Our study will provide an in-depth look at NSI closed captioning practices for current pbskids.org distributed programming. As PBS KIDS is a DCMP Partner, we expect it to be an exemplar in captioning and our results to show a high priority on quality and consistency in captions as laid out in the DCMP Captioning Key.
Chalise Jaquela Macklin and Lilian Onianwa, University of Memphis; Black Women in Hollywood Speak Out About Pay Disparity: A Thematic Analysis Utilizing Symbolic Interactionism and Fictive Kinship
This study aims to explore news articles distributed through mainstream news outlets and the comment sections of those articles to gain data on how news outlets covered Black actresses speaking out on pay disparity during different time phases. Symbolic interactionalism and fictive kinship were paired together and utilized through a thematic analysis to ensure the study’s results were rich and robust and provided a precise explanation.
Denetra Walker, University of Georgia, Erin Perry, Wayne State University, Betty Wilson, Washington State University and Martha Daitey, University of Georgia; “I just try to stay strong”: Intersectionality and Framing of Angel Reese’s Mental Health in Mainstream and Sports Media
Through Intersectionality and framing this study looks at the mainstream sports news coverage of Angel Reese’s mental health announcement(s). The study looks at how journalists frame her experience while writing about the competitiveness of Women’s Basketball. Race and gender will be looked at through a thematic analysis of mainstream news media and digital media, as headlines capture one of the biggest sports rivalries in NCAA history, that of LSU vs Iowa, including the dynamics of writing about a Black, woman athlete.